potato

• potatoe (obsolete)
• p'tater, tater (dialectal or informal)

Borrowed from Spanish patata, itself borrowed from Taíno batata (“sweet potato”).

• enPR: pə-tāʹtō, Rhymes: -eɪtəʊ
• (UK) IPA^(key): /pəˈteɪ.təʊ/

  • Audio (Received Pronunciation); [pə̥ˈtʰɛɪ̯tʰɜʊ̯]:

    (file)

  • Audio (Received Pronunciation); [pə̥ˈtʰɛi̯tʰɜu̯]:

    (file)

• (Canada, US) IPA^(key): /pəˈteɪ.toʊ/, [-ˈteɪ.ɾoʊ], (colloquial, sometimes) /pəˈteɪ.tə/^[1][2]

  • Audio (US); [pə̥ˈtʰeˑɾo]:

    (file)

• (Indic) IPA^(key): /poˈʈæʈoː/, Rhymes: -ætəʊ
• (Philippines) IPA^(key): /poˈteɪ.to/

potato (countable and uncountable, plural potatoes)

2. Solanum tuberosum or its edible starchy tuber.
   • 1891, “Condensed Replies to Various Letters”, in Leroy M[ilton] Yale, editor, Babyhood: The Mother’s Nursery Guide, Devoted to the Care of Children, volume VII, New York, N.Y., London: Babyhood Publishing Company, page 230, column 2:

     Do not let your child have potato for another year; he will probably take milk well enough after he is weaned.

   • 1912, C[harles] F[ord] Langworthy, Caroline L[ouisa] Hunt, Cheese and Its Economical Uses in the Diet (Farmers’ Bulletin 487), Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, page 24:

     The protein value of this dish is equal to that of 1⅛ pounds of potato and beef, the fuel value, however, being much in excess of these.

   • 1915, Annual Report of the Local Government Board for Scotland, page 17:

     A number of the children said that they had potato for breakfast, potato and herring for dinner, potato and milk for supper.

   • 1917, Knut Hamsun, Growth of the Soil, Book 1, Ch.4, at p.34:

     What was that about potatoes? Were they just a thing from foreign parts, like coffee; a luxury, an extra? Oh, the potato is a lordly fruit; drought or downpour, it grows and grows all the same. It laughs at the weather, and will stand anything; only deal kindly with it, and it yields fifteen-fold again. [...] A man may lack grain to make bread, but give him potatoes and he will not starve. Roast them in embers, and there is supper; boil them in water, and there's a breakfast ready.

   • 2017, Anthony J. McMichael, Alistair Woodward, Cameron Muir, Climate Change and the Health of Nations, →ISBN, page 213:

     Potatoes were introduced to Ireland in 1590 after being brought to Europe by Spanish conquistadores from their place of origin in the South American Andes.

   • 2021 December 1, Nigel Harris, “St Pancras and King's Cross: 1947”, in RAIL, number 945, page 42:

     The rocketing popularity of potatoes in London's diet led to the conversion of the temporary GNR passenger station north of the canal [...] as a dedicated potato terminal, whose significant traffic was stolen from coastal shipping.

3. (obsolete) A sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas)
4. (informal, UK) A conspicuous hole in a sock or stocking.
5. A person or animal shaped like a potato, that is, with a large belly and/or short legs.
6. Metaphor for a person or thing of little value.
   • 1757, [Tobias Smollett], The Reprisal: Or, The Tars of Old England. […], London: […] R[oberts] Baldwin, […], →OCLC, Act I, scene ii, page 8:

     I don't value Monſieur de Champignon a rotten potatoe; […]

   1. (slang, offensive) A mentally handicapped person.
   2. (humorous) A camera that takes poor-quality pictures.
   3. (humorous, slang, computing) An underpowered computer or other device, especially when small in size.
      • 2017 March 17, Steven Messner, “Overwatch community donates PC parts to fan who could barely run it at 800x600”, in PC Gamer‎^[1]:

        When most people refer to their computers as a potato they're being hyperbolic, but not Ethan. He plays Overwatch at 800x600 resolution with all settings on low and is excited when he gets 30 fps.

      • 2019 September 22, Benjamin Burns, “Meet the people making music with Mega Drives, Game Boys and gAtaris”, in Eurogamer‎^[2]:

        If you want to have a go right now, then Famitracker will let you compose songs for the NES and it'll run on a Windows-operated potato.

• (plant): p'tater (dialectal), spud (slang), tater (Britain, US, informal), tatie (Scotland, Cumbria, dialect), tator (eye dialect)
• (vegetable): Donovan (archaic slang), earthapple (rare), murphy, bog orange (obsolete slang), Irish apricot (obsolete slang), Irish fruit (obsolete slang), mickey
• (low-end computer): toaster (slang)

potato (third-person singular simple present potatoes, present participle potatoing, simple past and past participle potatoed)

1. (slang, transitive) To hit very hard; to pummel.
   • 2014, James Dixon, Arnold Furious, Bob Dahlstrom, The Raw Files: 1998, page 26:

     Bradshaw doesn't find much humour in it though, and beats the tar out of Dustin, potatoing him with every blow.

2. (transitive) To hit with a thrown or fired potato.
   • 2017, A. J. Low, Sherlock Sam’s Orange Shorts: Special Edition:

     Yvonne and Lee Swee potatoed Deputy Lestrade multiple times before Sheriff Moran potatoed them both. […] Suddenly, Sheriff Moran heard the click click of an empty weapon. He turned to see that both Mayor Eliza and Kat had run out of ammunition.

potato

1. (onomatopoeia, often repeated) The rhythmic sound produced by a V-twin engine—a distinctive deep, throaty exhaust note.

• patoot, topato

Borrowed from English potato.

• IPA^(key): /poˈtato/
• Rhymes: -ato

potato (plural potati)

1. potato

   Synonym: terpomo

• IPA^(key): /poˈta.to/
• Rhymes: -ato
• Hyphenation: po‧tà‧to

potato (feminine potata, masculine plural potati, feminine plural potate)

1. past participle of potare

• optato, topato

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [poːˈtaː.toː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [poˈt̪aː.t̪o]

pōtātō

1. second/third-person singular future active imperative of pōtō

pōtātō

1. masculine/neuter dative/ablative singular of pōtātus